General Social Survey

The General Social Survey (GSS) is a sociological survey created and collected annually since 1972 by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago and funded by the National Science Foundation. The GSS collects information and keeps a historical record of the concerns, experiences, attitudes, and practices of residents of the United States.

Since 1972, the GSS has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society. It is one of the most influential studies in the social sciences and is frequently referenced in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press.[1]

The data collected for this survey includes both demographic information and respondents' opinion on matters ranging from government spending to the state of race relations to the existence and nature of God. Because of the wide range of topics covered and the comprehensive gathering of demographic information, survey results allow social scientists to correlate demographic factors like age, race, gender, and urban/rural upbringing with beliefs and thereby determine whether, for example, an average middle-aged black male respondent would be more or less likely to move to a different U.S. state for economic reasons than a similarly situated white female respondent; or whether a highly educated person with a rural upbringing is more likely to believe in a transcendent God than a person with an urban upbringing and only a high school education.

In 2011, the GSS was linked to the National Death Index. This freely available dataset allows researchers to explore the association between variables in the General Social Survey and human longevity. For instance, it is possible to explore the association between happiness and life expectancy.[2] The dataset and codebook are available for download to the public.

Objectives

The General Social-Survey has three main purposes:

  • Gather data to monitor and explain trends, changes, and constants in attitudes, behaviors, and attributes as well as examine the structure, development, and functioning of society in general as well as the role of various sub-groups
  • Compare the United States to other societies to place American society in comparative perspective and develop cross-national models of human society
  • Make up-to-date, important, high-quality data easily accessible to scholars, students, policy makers, and others with minimal cost and waiting[3][4]

History

The GSS was first conducted in 1972. Until 1994, it was conducted annually (with the exceptions of the years 1979, 1981, and 1992). Since 1994, the GSS has been conducted in even-numbered years.[5]

In 1984, the GSS was a cofounder of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), a collaboration between different nations who conduct surveys for social science research. The first ISSP questions were asked as part of the GSS. Since 1985, the ISSP has conducted an annual cross-national survey and the GSS has participated in each ISSP round.

In 1991, the first auxiliary study to the GSS was conducted. Called the National Organizations Study (NOS), this study gathered a sample of national employers by asking GSS respondents for information on their place of work.

In 1998, the second auxiliary study to the GSS was conduced, called the National Congregations Study (NCS).

In 2002, the survey moved its questionnaire to computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) methods from the previous method of paper-based questioning. Also in this year, the second NOS was conducted.

In 2006, a large part of the GSS was administered in Spanish for the first time. In addition, the National Voluntary Associations Study, which also gathered its sample from the GSS by asking respondents about the voluntary associations in which they took part, was conducted. Also in this year, the second wave of the NCS was conducted.

From 2008 through 2014, in addition to the sample of respondents selected randomly every round, the GSS sample included one to two rotating panel samples consisting of cases interviewed in a previous round of the survey. Also in this year, the full GSS interview was translated into and administered in Spanish for Spanish-speaking US residents.

In 2012, the third wave of the NCS was conducted.

Methodology

The target population of the GSS is adults (18+) living in households in the United States. The GSS sample is drawn using an area probability design that randomly selects respondents. As a result, those who become part of the GSS sample come from a mix of urban, suburban, and rural areas. Participation in the study is strictly voluntary. With only a few thousand respondents being interviewed in the main study, every respondent selected has the chance to make an important contribution to its results.

The survey is conducted face-to-face via an in-person interview by NORC at the University of Chicago, which takes about 90 minutes to administer. As of 2014, 30 national samples with 59,599 respondents and 5,900+ variables have been collected.

Results

GSS results are available over the internet, generally in formats designed for statistical programs (e.g., R/SAS/SPSS/Stata). The online GSS Data Explorer allows any user to download GSS data and search for information about GSS questions, variables, and publications, test hypotheses, as well as conduct basic analyses without statistical software.

The latest available results are those of the 2018 survey.

More than 25,000 journal articles, books, and other research uses are based on the GSS and over an additional 1,000 more have been appearing annually as of recent. In addition, about 400,000 students use the GSS in their classes each year. The GSS website keeps an up-to-date list of major news reports and media coverage that reference GSS data.

See also

References
  1. "GSS Data Explorer – Media Room".
  2. Muennig, Peter (October 6, 2011). "The general social survey-national death index: an innovative new dataset for the social sciences". BMC Research Notes. 4 (385): 1–4. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-4-385. PMC 3199263. PMID 21978529.
  3. "National Data Program for the Social Sciences (NDPSS)".
  4. "General Social Survey (GSS) | NORC.org". www.norc.org. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  5. "GSS Data Explorer – FAQ".
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